Some of TechniMed’s best customers are doctors who have been burned by other companies that bill for medical practices, the ones they call "the billers in the basement."
As medical billing becomes more complicated by state and federal regulations and insurance companies’ reluctance to pay for procedures and services that are covered, more physicians are turning to companies with specific billing expertise like
TechniMed.
Company founder Pamela Laity says that understanding the technology and proper coding for billing is only the beginning of what it takes to properly handle medical billing. And it’s a process that is constantly changing. "We employ staff whose sole responsibility is keeping up on the changes in all different kinds of things that affect billing," Laity says.
Her staff, in turn, is required to keep up with the ongoing changes that apply to their work.
This attention to detail is one of the attributes of the company that has led it to grow by 20 to 40 percent each year since it began in 2004, Laity says. And that’s with no sales staff and no marketing effort. Word of mouth has helped the company grow until now it represents 65 practices across the state.
The latest move of the Sterling Heights-based provider of billing services for medical practices is to open a new Southwest Michigan office at 373 N. Main Street in Watervliet. TechniMed employs five full-time employees at the 1,800 square- foot office and plans to hire several more medical billers by the end of first quarter of 2012. The new office serves 10 OB/GYN, osteopathy and family practice clients from New Buffalo to Grand Rapids.
TechniMed has had a presence in Southwest Michigan since 2007, when it acquired a failing medical billing service. It retained one employee and the owner, who now manages the Watervliet office.
The company got its start in 2004. Laity and her husband, Bob, were laid off from a medical billing software company, moved to a company where they were providing similar medical billing services and after having great success turning around a number of practices with serious billing issues, they decided to go it on their own. The business launched from their kitchen table with employees from the previous company who insisted that they be made part of the new venture.
Since then, the company has grown to a staff of 35 across the state.
From the beginning the company has been family oriented, Laity says. Single parents are numbered among their employees, dogs are allowed to come to work and her husband always brings in a special soup for the holidays. Laity says doctors whose offices also often have a family feeling appreciate that aspect of TechniMed’s company culture as well.
Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Pamela Laity, TechniMed
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